Tuesday Tips: Taking Time

I have a picture frame on my fireplace mantel, and inside of it is a piece of paper that says, “God still speaks to those who take time to listen.” I got it last summer at a random garage sale. I thought it was perfect. So many people believe that God doesn’t speak to them today–He gave them the Bible, and that’s enough.

While that WOULD be enough, (it reminds me of the Passover Seder meal song– “Dayenu” which speaks of all the Lord had done in the history of the Hebrews. It explains each of God’s past blessings and says that each of those blessings would have been “Enough.” “Deyenu” means “Enough.”) Jesus has promised that we, as His sheep, can know His voice and follow it. Anyway, I’m not going to get into the details of why we should listen for His voice in this post, but maybe next week!

When I was reading through the Old Testament a while ago, I noticed the emphasis on celebrating the Sabbath, which for them was Friday at sunset until Saturday at sunset. It was a time of rest and relaxation, growing in relationship with both God and family. This time refreshed them for the next week.

In the same way, we need time to simply rest in the presence of the Lord, to stop what we are doing, to sit with Him. I’m not talking about a time of “praying and reading your Bibles.” Just being quiet and listening.

So often this is the exact opposite of what we do in order to seek God. We usually turn on our music, sit down, take a deep breath to read what was assigned for that day. Then we finish in record-time, remember nothing of what we just read, say something like, “Thanks God, for Your Word! Bless my day and Rick’s day and Lila’s day and Paul’s day and Eric’s day and mom and dad and…” etc, etc.

As I had half of this post written, I heard a discussion at the end of an album I was listening to. Actually, I heard this line:

“All He asks is that you listen.“

Awesome. Thank You, Lord.

Father, I ask that You enable us to rest with You, to sit in silence and listen to You. Help us to push aside every hindrance and step into a more serious relationship with You today, to see what You have to say that will encourage us, lead us and guide us into all You desire for us to do. Thank You for promising to speak to us! We would be no where without You! Amen 🙂

Set aside 10 minutes to listen to Him.
Thank You in advance. You are holy. You are worthy. I love You, God. Holy Spirit, You are so good to us. Help us to listen.